Thread: Bill Aims To Keep Cities Out Of Day-Labor Business

Bill Aims To Keep Cities Out Of Day-Labor Business

April 13, 2007 08:06 PM PDT





On Monday, state lawmakers will take up a bill that would prevent local governments from setting up day-labor centers that would facilitate employment for illegal immigrants.

If it passes, a lot of time and energy spent by Austin city leaders may go to waste.

"This is much more desirable than informal, unstructured sites throughout the city," said David Lurie, Director of Health & Human Services.

Lurie is speaking about a second day-labor site, now approved by the City Council, at a cost of roughly $250,000 to operate. It is a divisive issue.

"It's a benefit to the laborers," Lurie said, "and it's a benefit to the employers."

"An unfounded fear of these are illegal immigrants, therefore they do illegal things all the time," said Mike Martinez, Austin City Councilmember.

What you have not heard is why these day-labor sites may be deemed illegal and thus a waste of time and money. More on that shortly, but first, details on what the council unanimously approved.

"We are simply providing a place -- a structured, safe organized environment -- where laborers and employers can transact their business," Lurie said.

The new site will be at the Midnight Rodeo nightclub in the 2200 block of East Ben White. It would operate as a day-labor site in the morning and remain a bar and dance hall in the evening.

By most accounts, day laboring at the city level has been a huge success. Health and Human Services helped more than 20,000 laborers get work last year in Austin. But at the state level, there is a movement to crack down on these day-labor sites.

"It's simply inappropriate for public funds, indirectly or directly, to encourage illegal activity," said Shannon Duffy.

House Bill 904 would make it illegal to spend public money on a day-labor site that knowingly hires illegal immigrants.

Rep. Bill Zedler is behind it. Duffy is his chief of staff.

"The intent of the legislation is to ensure public funds aren't used to knowingly facilitate illegal behavior," Duffy said, "in other words, the hiring of undocumented workers."

The City of Austin does not check for residency status at their day-labor sites. They simply match workers with employers in a structured site.

"His bill would prohibit us from providing that service if we didn't know, or we couldn't prove, that they weren't legal residents," Martinez said.

House Bill 904 comes out of the Farmers Branch community, where some pretty tough anti-immigration bills have gone through. Similar bills have passed in Arizona and Georgia. Those laws have been challenged and upheld in court.
http://www.kxan.com/Global/story.asp?S=6369184&nav=0s3d

"We are simply providing a place -- a structured, safe organized environment -- where laborers and employers can transact their business," Lurie said.

No, you are creaing a magnet.....


"It's a benefit to the laborers," Lurie said,

Why doesn't their own country benefit them?